This winter’s topsy-turvy weather continues, with some nights warmer than the days, as temperatures rise and fall in a most peculiar way.

On Stowell Farm, there is a new arrival. Melissa and Kevin bought a blue merle border collie, which has been named Smudge.

It was bred on a farm in North Devon, not far from Adele and Steve and will, hopefully, turn out to be as good as Gemma, who was put to sleep a few weeks ago at the grand old age of 14.

Border collies work by getting in front of sheep and using a strong eye to stare them down.

They are known as headers, or fetching dogs, keeping the sheep in a group while repeatedly moving to the front, to turn or stop movement.

Border collies are double coated, with long, rough, water-repellent hair on the top and a thick, soft undercoat, which will keep them warm or cool.

They are most commonly black and white, but come in a variety of other colours, including blue merle.

Early lambing on Stowell Farm has now come to an end, with a group of healthy, strong lambs now well settled with their mothers.

The next lambs are due to be born to the main flock from March 1. The main flock ewes, now all under cover, have been put through a foot bath this week, to kill a bacterium that causes foot scald, the most common foot problem in sheep on wet grass or in damp conditions on straw-bedded yards.

The bacterium damages the superficial layer of skin between the claws, allowing the entry of other bacteria.

Lameness can also be prevented or treated with foot-trimming, an antibiotic injection or vaccination.

The small remaining flock of last year’s lambs, being finished for meat, were checked to find that a number of them graded, so are now ready for sale.

One afternoon over the weekend, Richard and I gave milk to two Angus x calves, concentrate pellets to the weaned dairy heifer calves; checked the in-calf heifers, the few remaining dry cows and our new bull, Faithful, who has settled down well in his new surroundings.

Charlotte, who is in her fourth year studying veterinary science, helped Ian and Richard remove horn-buds from the last five of the weaned heifer calves.

We also had a routine vet visit, to do more post-natal and pregnancy checks on the dairy cows and one day – while Ruth was milking – Ian collected a milk sample from each cow for analysis.

Ryan and Ian have mucked out the loose-bedded pens, used for freshly calved, lame or sick cows.

There have been a few problems to deal with. There was an electrical fault on the cow brush and a faulty thermostat in the water heater, which were sorted out by an engineer.

Richard had to mend the pull-start on the machine that brushes soiled bedding from the back of the cubicle beds, before starting a job mending one of the trailers used to transport manure to storage areas.

This job will take him a little while, as he has to buy some metal before it can be welded into place.

The highlight of my week has to be a day at Roves Farm, where Margaret and I were the guides for two classes of five to seven-year-olds from Longleaze Primary School in Royal Wootton Bassett.

The weather was perfect; warm sunshine all day. The children met all the animals and were lucky enough to see the birth of twin lambs.

We went on a tractor ride in the afternoon, stopping to run in a grass field, have a look at a pond and go into a small copse, finding moss, sticks, lots of empty snail shells and feathers. What a great time we all had.